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In Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow, she argues quite effectively that our system of incarceration is racially biased, both in intent and in effect. She argues that the war on drugs, the "tough on crime" mentality, and racial tensions in the US have led to a system of mass incarceration that disproportionately affects black and latino men. We can't sit idly by while hundreds of thousands of people are incarcerated unnecessarily. Below, we detail some of the aspects of our system of mass incarceration.

The War on Drugs

The quote from one of Richard Nixon's top policy advisors, John Ehrlichman, says it best:

Politicians in the US often talk about being "Tough on Crime". Unfortunately, being "Tough on Crime" generally means giving out exorbitant sentences even for minor crimes, cutting access to rehabilitative programs and reentry programs that are shown to reduce crime, and criminalizing behavior that doesn’t need to be criminalized.

Our entire legal system is incredibly racist, both in effect and in intention, from how police patrol neighborhoods to the sentences that are given out. The amount of evidence for this is absolutely overwhelming. Some ways in which the US system of mass incarceration actively discriminates against black and brown people include:

Even with all of this evidence, we’re just scratching the surface of how racially biased our policing and incarceration system is. We recommend you read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander if you are interested in more information.

How Expungement Fits Into This

Expungement can't solve all of this. However, it is a step in the right direction. Hundreds of thousands of people in the US have been given criminal records for things that never should have been illegal, and this pattern continues today. Our punishments are often too harsh, and our system fails to focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Expungement is a tool to help people mitigate some of the damages of a criminal record. However, we truly need reforms to our system of mass incarceration. For more information on CanIexpunge's policy goals, see our policy page. We also are planning on expanding services into voting rights, for more information on that, see our page on CanIvote. Finally, the statistics we've shared here today only tell half the story. The other half is the lived experiences of the many people who have served time in prison, and continue to serve time in prison. For more information on our work to get those stories to the general public, see our page on advocacy.